1901

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s

Years: 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 - 1901 - 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906

• January 1 - World celebrates what is regarded as the start of the new century. (Zero-ists' argument that new century should be celebrated in 1900 rejected worldwide.
• January 1 - Australia is federated as an independent nation under an act of the British Parliament.
• January 1 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
• January 7 - Alferd Packer[?] is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism
• January 10 - The first great Texas gusher, oil discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas
• January 22 - Edward VII becomes King after his mother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, dies.
• February 20 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
• February 25 - J.P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation[?].
• March 2 - The United States Congress passes the Platt amendment, limiting the autonomy of Cuba as a condition for the withdrawal of American troops.
• March 6 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
• March 17 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
• April 25 - New York state becomes the first to require automobile license plates.
• May 9 - Australia opens its first parliament[?] in Melbourne.
• May 27 - In New Jersey, the Edison Storage Battery Company[?] is founded.
• June 24 - First exhibition of Pablo Picasso opens.
• July 4 The 1,282 foot (390 meters) covered bridge crossing the St.John River at Hartland[?], New Brunswick, Canada opens. It is the longest covered bridge in the world.
• December 12 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal in Newfoundland, Canada; it is Morse code for the letter "S."

• Cleveland Indians founded
• Europium discovered by Eugéne Demarcay[?]
• First prototype Harley-Davidson created
• Okapi discovered (previously known only to local natives)
• Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan
• The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm
• Change of US presidency from William McKinley (1897-1901) to Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
• In September, President of the United States William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies eight days later. Theodore Roosevelt takes the Oath of Office.
• End of Boxer Rebellion in China
• Independent Maya of Eastern Yucatan surrender to Mexico

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1901 in film
• 1901 in literature
• 1901 in music
  • "Piano Concerto No. 2" by Rachmaninoff
• 1901 in sports
  • Baseball (US) : The American and National Leagues agree to peacefully coexist and organise a World Series between their champions, which would be first held in 1903.

Births:

• January 3 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (+ 1963)
• January 26 - Stuart Symington[?], politician (+ 1988)
• January 27 - Willy Fritsch[?], actor (+ 1973)
• January 29 - Allen Du Mont[?], television pioneer
• January 30 - Rudolf Caracciola[?], driver of racing cars (+ 1959)
• January 31 - Marie Luise Kaschnitz[?], writer (+ 1974)
• February 1 - Clark Gable, American actor
• February 2 - Jascha Heifetz[?], musician (+ 1987)
• February 10 - Stella Adler[?], acting teacher (+ 1992)
• February 16 - Wayne King[?], band leader ("The Waltz King")
• February 25 - Zeppo Marx, comedian, The Marx Brothers (+ 1929)
• February 28 - Linus Pauling, the only winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 and Peace 1962 (+ 1994)
• March 4 - Charles Goren[?], bridge expert
• March 11 - Leopold III of Belgium
• March 21 - Karl Arnold[?], politician (+ 1958)
• March 24 - Ub Iwerks, cartoonist (+ 1971)
• March 27 - Carl Barks, Donald Duck illustrator
• March 27 - Erich Ollenhauer[?], politician (+ 1963)
• April 1 - Whittaker Chambers, spy (+ 1961)
• May 5 - Blind Willie McTell, blues singer.
• May 7 - Gary Cooper, actor (+ 1961)
• May 17 - Werner Egk[?], composer (+ 1983)
• May 20 - Max Euwe, Dutch world champion chess 1935-1937
• May 21 - Horace Heidt[?], band leader (+ 1986)
• May 21 - Sam Jaffe[?], actor (+ 2000)
• June 18 - Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia
• June 24 - Harry Partch, microtonal composer
• August 4 - Louis Armstrong Jazz musician
• September 28 - Ed Sullivan, American TV show host
• September 29 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist
• October 2 - Kiki, singer
• October 10 - Alberto Giacometti, Italian sculptor
• November 22 - Joaquin Rodrigo, composer (+ 1999)
• December 5 - Walter Elias Disney, later known as Walt Disney, American animator and film producer.
• December 5 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist
• December 16 - Margaret Mead, cultural antropologist
• December 19 - Rudolf Hell, inventor
• Emperor Hirohito of Japan

Deaths:

• January 22 - Queen Victoria monarch of the United Kingdom,dies after the longest reign on the throne in English/British thrones.
• January 27 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian grand opera composer
• February 11 - Milan I[?], king of Serbia.
• February 22 - George Francis FitzGerald[?], mathematician
• March 13 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States
• April 3 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, impresario
• August 5 - The Empress Frederick, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and mother of German Emperor Wilhelm II
• September 9 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painter
• Abdur Rahman Khan, amir of Afghanistan

Nobel Prizes:

• Physics - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
• Chemistry - Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff
• Medicine - Emil Adolf von Behring
• Literature - Sully Prudhomme
• Peace - Jean Henri Dunant, Frédéric Passy[?]